Broken Frontier

Have you ever been utterly smitten with someone? Did you and your significant other ever have those magical, one-of-a-kind, personalized kisses that were made up on the spur of the moment and which you share for the rest of your lives? It’s apparent that Liz Prince knows how this feels. She and her boyfriend Kevin are twitterpated stars of the new release from Top Shelf, Will You Still Love Me If I Wet the Bed? That question is answered inside and the rest of the book is an adorable little collection of snippets and snapshots of moments from their relationship.

The book starts warmly enough with Kevin and Liz snuggling in bed. He sleepily tells her "Your armpits smell like celery" and with a contented grin she replies, "I know." Such an odd, idiosyncratic moment to share, but when you’re happy with your partner these are the moments you cherish. The book is entirely made up of these one-page exchanges between the two lovers, as they stake their claims on each others’ body parts, or engage in soft barbs of clever wordplay.

Prince never takes her characters (i.e. Kevin and herself) on a journey longer than a moment, but it’s clear that what they feel for each other is special and important. Most of the strips are short four panel affairs stolen like kisses from the lives of the quirky pair. There’s almost never a sense that there’s a world outside of the darling duo, save for the occasional "Someone might see!" and yet it feels as though in their relationship, the silly, gross and snuggly moments that Liz and Kevin share are the most precious.

Told in a rough, scratchy cartoon style, with many of the guidelines left intact, the book achieves a kind of immediacy. The book never feels over-considered, and instead comes off like a loose journal of love-notes. It’s more rough around the edges than the art usually found in "romance" comics. It’s a primitive style of cartooning that creates a language all its own, and it feels a bit like capturing the magic of the first draft. What the look of the book lacks in polish, it makes up for in a pure warmth that seems to breathe.

Will You Still Love Me If I Wet the Bed? is a wondrous present to someone you hold dear. If you’ve ever had those dizzy feelings when she walks into the room, or if you’ve ever secretly thought he was adorable while you walked off in a mock-huff, then this book will be familiar. If those feelings sound a little bit alien, then it might make for a really interesting primer.